Basic Compensation for Victims of Climate Change

Global climate change is the greatest environmental challenge facing the world today. The most urgent issue is how to prevent further accumulation of greenhouse gases (GHGs) that will only fuel the process. The next priority is to implement adaptive measures, limiting harm to the extent that climate change cannot be avoided. Some degree of climate change is inevitable, imposing substantial cost to society in the form of direct harm and adaptation expenses. It is not too soon to begin considering how these costs will be allocated. In particular, we should begin to consider whether some of the damages should be shifted from victims of climate change to responsible parties, such as large-scale emitters of GHGs. The reality is that, whatever mitigation measures are adopted, a significant degree of climate change seems unavoidable. The best